Winterfest Double Header Ends in Double Victory for Rockets
February 13, 2023
Both Hortonville’s Girls’ and Boys’ basketball teams traveled to Neenah for a rare double-header coinciding with the eve of Neenah’s Winterfest Dance. Unprecedentedly high spectator attendance from both sides prompted the installation of bleechers on all four sides of the court, a rare sight. And unfortunately for the Polar Bears, both of their teams lost.
Beginning at 6 p.m. was the boys’ game, culminating in a 75-60 victory for the Rockets.
Sam Coulthard, player #3 (a senior), called the game “quite good” and “one of our best games all year.”
“This is a team that’s kind of behind us close in the FVA race for conference, as far as position wise. So sweeping them, going 2-0 against them this year is like really huge for us. And it keeps them kind of out of the conversation,” he said.
He also credits spectator attendance for pushing the Rockets to victory.
“When you play in front of a crowd like this, everybody just gets more puffed up, the bench and the people playing. So you know, it’s a good atmosphere, it gets us to play way better,” Coulthard added.
Mitchell Argall, a member of the Rocket Rowdys coordinating the student section, said, “I think we were a little slow in the first half, and then second half we really turned it on. I thought that our defense was pretty good. We had some fast breaks and stuff; some good key moments to change the momentum in the game.”
Originally planned as the only game for the night, the girls’ match had generated signficant anticipation among the student body in the weeks leading up to Winterfest. Before the match, Hortonville held the #2 state ranking among WIAA girls’ basketball teams, while also being the culprit of the girls’ only loss the entire season. Not only did last night’s 67-47 victory provide vengeance for the Rockets, but it has also bolted them to the top of the state rankings, according to MaxPreps.
Hortonville’s student section emptied itself early during the girl’s game, as the Rocket’s point lead became unsurmountable.
“I think the biggest thing for us is just the consistency. There’s times where we’re not consistent, and there’s times where we’re playing at that level where we need to. Tonight, for 36 minutes we came out with that intensity on the defense and we did what we needed to do,” head coach Andrew Braunel said to WLUK-TV.
Braunel also laments the loss of Shelby Roth and Amaya Jones. Roth is out after having torn her ACL, while Jones is relegated to crutches due to a broken leg.
“When you’ve lost two kids like that, you’ve got to do it as a team. You can’t put one kid in and expect them to fill those shoes of those two. It’s part of the team to really buy in on the defense,” Braunel added.
With both teams approaching the end of the season, the Ron Einerson Fieldhouse soon faces its last days as a host of regular-season high school basketball games. The girls play in it next Thursday for the conference title against Oshkosh North, while the boys play next Friday against Kimberly.
“Oshkosh North is playing phenomenally; tonight’s win is awesome but obviously we have work to do yet. And there’s a good chance we’ll be seeing Hortonville again. I’m happy with this. We still have to keep getting better. I’m proud of the kids. It hasn’t been since 2010 that we had a shared [conference championship], and a lot longer since we had one outright. So, let’s finish the deal on Thursday,” Braunel said.